[RANT]False Beeprog. AGAIN.

Its one thing to copy a design and stick your own name on it, another to
clone something and stick the legit company name and logo on it. Why can't
they brick a fake if they want to (after all it is the end user trying to
load copyrighted firmware on a fake product not the company seeking out to
brick any old copy)? If I sent a shipload of fake Gucci bags to California
the local port authorities would just grab them and burn them.
-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Guzis
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 11:22 AM
To: General at classiccmp.org ; Discussion at classiccmp.org:On-Topic and
Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: [RANT]False Beeprog. AGAIN.
On 06/23/2015 07:57 AM, Alexandre Souza wrote:
>> Some years ago, I wrote about a clone of the Beeprog (made by Elnec)
> I bought here locally in Brazil.
>> Now, seems chinese are cloning the Beeprog PLUS (!!!)
>> I got a Beeprog+ in the used market here in Brazil. Asked for Elnec
> warranty, since the programmer was manufactured in (month)11(year)2012.
> It all went well up to the serial number.
>> It was made past the stop manufacture date. It stopped manufacturing
> in 07/2012.
>> Seems I got another hot potato on my hand :'(
>> Pay atention on that!
I can understand Elnec's distress over the cloning of their product, but
they did themselves no favor by taking the approach described here:
"...The manufacturer of the fake BeeProgs stole our logo and
intellectual property by manufacturing fake copies of BeeProg
programmer. This "product" uses also our software and users of this fake
BeeProg are asking for our free technical support. Although the copy of
the BeeProg programmer is done well, the manufactures of the fake
BeeProg overlooked few details. Result is, the fake BeeProg unit differs
from the original, visible for the software. We've used one of these
differences - it is not a serial number - and our software could detect
this fake hardware. If PG4UW software detects a fake hardware, it shows
message "Fake programmer unit detected!" and programmer will no longer work.
If you're facing such situation, contact please the vendor, where from
you bought the programmer, for full credit return. Or you can take this
vendor to court for selling a fake products. We regret, we could not
provide any assistance in this case..."
In the USA, they would probably end up as the target of legal action,
since refusing to do the update is legitimate, but disabling the device
is a no-no. It amounts basically to theft of a product from the
(unaware) owner--sort of an extra-judicial vigilante killing.
This reminds me of early failed floppy-copy-protection schemes.
Fortunately, there are solutions to restore functionality to the clone
Beeprog. I do not know if the same obtains for the clone Plus.
--Chuck
---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus